Chamber of Fasces and Corporations ( it, Camera dei Fasci e delle Corporazioni) was the lower house of the

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

from 23 March 1939 to 5 August 1943, during the height of the regime of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

History

It was established on 19 January 1939, to replace the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Res ...

during the 30th legislature of Italy. Members of the chamber were called '"national councillors" (''consiglieri nazionali'') rather than deputies. The councillors of the chamber did not represent geographic constituencies, but the different trades and industries of Italy, thus reflecting the

corporatist Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...

idea of

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

ideology. Councillors were elected for terms of undetermined length and automatically lost their seats upon their defection from the branch they did represent. Renewal of the legislature was ordered by decree by the

King of Italy King of Italy ( it, links=no, Re d'Italia; la, links=no, Rex Italiae) was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a barbarian military leader ...

, on specific instruction of the

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...

(Mussolini).

Appointment

The creation of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations was the culmination of the progressive curtailment of the independence of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy following Mussolini's formal proclamation of dictatorship in 1925. All other parties were formally banned in 1926, though Italy had effectively been a one-party state for a year before then. At the elections of

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

and

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

, voters were presented with a single list of Fascist candidates chosen by the

Grand Council of Fascism The Grand Council of Fascism (, also translated "Fascist Grand Council") was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy, that held and applied great power to control the institutions of government. It was created as a body of th ...

. No elections took place in Italy between 1934 and 1946. Unlike earlier elections for the legislature held under the

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

era, popular suffrage was eliminated altogether. Instead, the lower house would be a body comprising representatives of the various

corporations A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

of Italy, fulfilling

's vow of creating a "corporate state." The candidates for the approximately 600 seats were nominated summarily by three organs: the Grand Council, the National Council of the members of the PNF, and the different corporations resembling the entire trade and industry of Italy, canalized through the

National Council of Corporations The National Council of Corporations (''Consiglio nazionale delle corporazioni'') was a constitutional organ of the Kingdom of Italy between 1930 and 1943. History It was established by royal decrees number 1131 of 2 July 1926 and 1347 of 14 Jul ...

(''Consiglio Nazionale delle Corporazioni''), effectively in the hands of Mussolini and the PNF.

Powers and procedures

The Chamber of Fasces and Corporations shared the legislative powers with the Government and the Royal Senate. The only bills that were actually discussed by the plenary assembly, both in the Chamber and in the Senate, were the ones regarding constitutional amendments, legislative delegation and budget laws; the other bills were directly examined and passed by the parliamentary commissions, unless the Chamber, with authorization from the Head of the Government, decided to debate it in the assembly. By order of the Head of the Government, even the laws that required approval by the plenary assembly could be approved directly by the commissions, should urgency reasons require it. The powers of the Chamber was largely marginal, but it still exercised some influence onto the legislative process: according to Italian historian

Renzo de Felice Renzo De Felice (8 April 1929 – 25 May 1996) was an Italian historian, who specialized in the Fascist era, writing, among other works, a 6000-page biography of Mussolini (4 volumes, 1965–1997). He argued that Mussolini was a revolutionary m ...

, the parliamentary commissions were often subjected to strong corporate influence, which the fascist government had to deal with.

Presidents

Notes

References